By REYNALD MAGALLON
Like a true warrior and born winner that he is, LA Tenorio emerged victorious in perhaps the greatest battle not just of his basketball career, but for his life.
The Barangay Ginebra playmaker has now been declared cancer-free after a six-month bout against the disease.
Kings head coach Tim Cone bared the good news on Tuesday, Sept. 19 after the joint press conference of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and PBA regarding Gilas Pilipinas’ participation in the 19th Asian Games where Tenorio was supposed to be part of team as an assistant coach.
“We just got really good news on LA by the way, his last PET scan he took today in Singapore. He is in Singapore right now. And he is cancer-free,” said Cone.
“He is finished with all of his chemo sessions and he has been declared cancer-free. And they told him that within days, he can start practicing. In three or four days, he can start practice,” he added.
Tenorio then reposted the news of his recovery on X (formerly Twitter) with a caption ‘God is Good’.
Tenorio revealed last March that he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer, prompting him to take a break from basketball.
The 39-year-old guard had since then gone back-and-forth from here in the country to Singapore where he got his treatment and chemotherapy sessions.
The development came exactly just in time for Tenorio’s planned return to basketball by October or the start of the new PBA season.
Cone, himself, admitted that he entertained the possibility of adding Tenorio to the current Gilas lineup if only the veteran guard was also included in the 37-man list the SBP submitted to the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (HAGOC) – the same list that casted doubts on the participation of Terrence Romeo and Mo Tautuaa.
“I told him the only problem is, ‘LA, you’re not on the list, so, we can’t include you on the national team,” said Cone.
“I would’ve put him in the Asian Games team if he had been on the list because he knows our system better than anybody. He would’ve been great but sayang, he’s not on the list” he added.
